SEMrush Review: How We Increased Organic Search Traffic by 532%
An informed ecommerce business owner is a better ecommerce business owner.
Why?
Because they’re able to base their decisions on facts and data rather than on speculation and theories.
To get the facts and data you need to make the best decisions for your business, SEMrush has all the tools you need. And, not only can SEMrush’s tools help you dive deep into your business’ data and analytics, but your competitors’ as well.
Not only can SEMrush’s tools help you dive deep into your business’ data and analytics, but your competitors’ as well.
Having the kind of data and analytics at your disposal that SEMrush can dig up can make your business decisions super powerful.
In this SEMrush review, we’re breaking down what SEMrush does and how we used it to increase our traffic by 532%. To date, it’s one of the most powerful tools or services we’ve ever used to make a big impact on our traffic and sales.
Let’s dive into what SEMrush can do for your business (and what it’s done for ours).
Table of Contents
SEMrush Review: What SEMrush Does
SEMrush is essentially a one-stop online marketing research service.
They started as a way to help ecommerce entrepreneurs and website owners identify their competitor’s marketing strategies so they could use them for their own businesses, but over the years, SEMrush has evolved into so much more.
They’ve created many different tools to help entrepreneurs improve their marketing efforts, like:
- Keyword Research Tools
- On-Page SEO Tools
- Competitor Analysis Tools
- Content Marketing Tools
- Local SEO Tools
- Rank Tracking Tools
- Social Media Management Tools
- Link Building Tools
- Competitor SEO Analysis Tools
- Content Creation and Distribution Tools
- Content Optimization Tools
- Paid Advertising Tools
- PPC Keyword Research Tools
And so much more!
SEMrush has about 63 tools in total so we weren’t kidding when we said they’re a one-stop-shop!
And possibly one of the best things about SEMrush is that they don’t just spit out a wad of data and analytics at you — they offer strategy ideas, too. This helps users understand how to use their data and analytics and it can also help uncover any blind spots they might have overlooked.
In short, here are some of the standout things SEMrush can help you accomplish:
- Find out who your competitors are and the top competitors in your niche
- Determine the most valuable keywords your competitors are ranking for
- Learn exactly where your competitors are getting backlinks from
- Track your keywords and monitor their Google search positions
- Discover your competitor’s lucrative products to sell in your own store
- Learn exactly which keywords to use for your own product pages and blog posts
SEMrush Review: Who SEMrush is For
SEMrush is not for the new entrepreneur just starting up their first ecommerce business. It’s a bit too robust of a tool for a new business and would likely be wasted on brand new stores that are just starting to acquire traffic and customers.
Instead, it’s best suited for intermediate- or advanced-level entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their reach, boost their traffic, and get more ROI from their efforts. If you’re ready to grow your business to new heights and really want to dig in and do the dirty work when it comes to reports, analytics, data, and tracking, then SEMrush is the tool for you.
If you’re ready to grow your business to new heights and really want to dig in and do the dirty work when it comes to reports, analytics, data, and tracking, then SEMrush is the tool for you.
SEMrush is also for the entrepreneur who’s ready to get competitive in their industry and take their strategies to the next step. It’s for the entrepreneur who’s ready to get in on the game for real and the entrepreneur who’s ready to perform.
Our Results Using SEMrush for One Year
We’ve been using SEMrush here at A Better Lemonade Stand for several years now.
In particular, we were highly focused on SEO growth in 2015 and used SEMrush religiously to uncover great keywords to target. Over the course of that year, we were able to explode our readership, achieving 532% growth that year.
This set the stage for the rest of our business and was instrumental in our overall success as a business.
Why is SEMrush So Effective?
For most websites, stores, and blogs, the majority of traffic (80%) comes from a handful of pages (20%). This is a perfect example of the Pareto Principle at play.
By knowing exactly what your competitor’s top-ranking pages are, and the keywords those pages are ranking for, you can be exponentially more efficient with your time by creating and optimizing your content based on those keywords.
SEMrush’s tools help you do exactly this, so there’s less guessing you have to do, and instead you can just apply the information, data, and analytics you discover to work in your favor.
SEMrush Review: Video Walkthrough
In the video below, you’ll learn the basics of SEMrush, as well as a real example of how a smaller ecommerce brand can use the tool to uncover keywords and potentially lucrative product ideas from rival competitors.
SEMrush Review: Features & Tools
SEMrush offers a bunch of different features and services, some will be better for your business than others depending on your unique goals and objectives, but there’s sure to be a tool that can help you to improve your business no matter what your target is.
Check out the following descriptions for an overview of each tool and click on the link to learn more about it.
SEMrush SEO Tools
Keyword Research
We’ve discussed the importance of keyword research before in our Ultimate Guide to Keyword Research, so it’s no surprise that SEMrush provides tools dedicated specifically to helping you find the best high-volume and long-tail keywords for your content and website.
SEMrush provides 6 different keyword research tools:
- Keyword Overview: Get access to all necessary data of any keyword you search
- Organic Research: Analyze lists of your competitor’s keywords so you can discover new ways to win
- Keyword Magic Tool: Generate thousands of new keywords from one seed keyword
- Keyword Gap: Compare any website’s keywords profile against your own to find competitive gaps
- Keyword Manager: Analyze metrics for up to 1,000 keywords to keep tabs on your goals
- Organic Traffic Insights: Integrate with your store’s Google Analytics to cross-reference your performance
Keywords are such an important part of SEO and are an essential part of building a strong web presence for ecommerce businesses and websites alike, so SEMrush’s keyword research tools are so valuable if you want to increase your traffic.
On-Page SEO
Google’s algorithm is constantly changing so make sure you’re up to date with everything by using SEMrush’s on-page SEO tools. These tools enable you to check whether you’re hitting the mark when it comes to things like content writing, link building, keyword usage, and plenty of other SEO essentials.
These three tools will ensure that you’re doing everything possible to successfully optimize your website for search engines:
- Site Audit: Fix on-site problems and improve your SEO with SEMrush’s Site Audits. With this tool, you’re able to check the health of your SEO strategy, track your SEO progress, improve security, fix mistakes, and more
- On-Page SEO Checker: Generates a list of strategies you can use to improve each webpage’s SEO
- Log File Analyzer: Discover how a Google crawler sees your web pages so you can make necessary changes to make it easier for it to navigate
Local SEO
Are you a “local” business in your area? Optimize your website using these local SEO tools so you’re more likely to show up in search results for people in your area.
- Listing Management: Get your business listed on important directories like Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business, Amazon Alexa, and TripAdvisor with just one quick and easy entry
- Position Tracking: Track your site’s place in the SERPs to ensure that you’re ranking in search results and staying there
- On-Page SEO Checker: Use this tool to analyze your competitor’s strategies and other trends in the industry to stay relevant
- Social Media Toolkit: Post and schedule content to go live on multiple different platforms from just one place
Rank Tracking
Keep an eye on how your website is performing in Google search results with these rank tracking tools:
- Position Tracking: Track your site’s place in the SERPs to ensure that you’re ranking in search results and staying there
- Sensor: Keep track of Google’s changes and updates to predict how your site’s SEO efforts may be impacted
- Ranks: Discover top-performing websites so you can compare their performance, keywords, traffic costs, and more
Link Building
Link building is an essential part of the SEO strategy and with these tools, you can discover new backlinks, audit current backlinks, create outreach campaigns to get new backlinks, and also track your overall progress.
If you want to take your SEO to new levels, start working on your backlink profile with these tools:
- Backlink Analytics: Discover and track backlinks
- Backlink Audit Tool: Monitor your backlink profile to keep it clean and working in your site’s favor
- Backlink Gap: Find new backlink opportunities by tracking competing backlink profiles
- Bulk Backlink Analysis: Analyze your competitor’s backlinks to find new opportunities
- Link Building Tool: Run outreach campaigns to get new backlinks
Competitor SEO Analysis
The hardest part about SEO is getting ahead of the competition. With these tools, you can keep a close eye on their strategies and tactics so you can find gaps or take over.
- Organic Research: Enter your competitor’s domain to get insights into their SEO strategies and tactics
- Keyword Gap: Compare any website’s keywords profile against your own to find competitive gaps
- Backlink Analytics: Discover and track backlinks
- Backlink Gap: Find new backlink opportunities by tracking competing backlink profiles
- My Reports: Pull together all of your insights in one neat and tidy PDF that you can share with your team or clients
SEMrush Content Tools
Content is king when it comes to your website; it’s how you’ll gain a lot of traffic that you can then turn into customers. SEMrush’s content tools are designed to help you create the best content for relevant keywords so you can attract people to your site like a moth to a flame.
Content Marketing
Create a super-strong content strategy that achieves your goals and gets attention with these tools:
- Topic Research: Find high-quality content topics that your audience will love
- Marketing Calendar: Manage and plan your content calendar with your team
- SEO Content Template: Get helpful recommendations to create SEO-optimized content that competes against top-rankers for your target keyword
- SEO Writing Assistant: Check your SEO and readability score to ensure that your content is on the right track
- Brand Marketing: Find the top people and platforms in your industry to distribute your content
- Post Tracking: Measure your content’s performance, or track your competitor’s content performance
- Content Audit: Check through your content easily to discover what’s performing well and what needs to be updated
Content Creation & Distribution
Use these tools specifically to help you create great content and get it out to the public:
- Topic Research: Find high-quality content topics that your audience will love
- Content Marketplace: Find unique content pieces that you can post to your site
- Social Media Poster: Share and schedule social posts and then analyze the results
Content Optimization
Make your content work for you by putting these tools to work:
- SEO Content Template: Get helpful recommendations to create SEO-optimized content that competes against top-rankers for your target keyword
- SEO Writing Assistant: Check your SEO and readability score to ensure that your content is on the right track
Content Marketing Analytics
Keep an eye on your content’s performance so you can update and adjust as needed:
- Content Audit: Check through your content easily to discover what’s performing well and what needs to be updated
- Post Tracking: Measure your content’s performance, or track your competitor’s content performance
SEMrush Market Research Tools
If you want to be a strong competitor in your industry, you need to keep an eye on your industry. Use SEMrush’s market research tools to track and analyze the strategies your competitors are using so you can come out on top.
Competitor Analysis
Get all the dirt on your competition with these tools:
- Traffic Analytics: Compare your site’s traffic metrics against your competitors so you can make plans and rebuild
- Organic Research: Analyze lists of your competitor’s keywords so you can discover new ways to win
- Advertising Research: Improve your advertising campaigns by getting a glimpse into your competitor’s
- Brand Monitoring: Stay in-the-know with who’s mentioning you and what they’re saying. You can even keep tabs on your competitor’s mentions so you can target them for yourself and possibly find new channels for distributing your brand
- Social Media Tracker: Analyze your competitor’s social media, keep tabs on your audience’s preferences, and discover new ways to increase engagement
Market Analysis
Get a feel for the competitive landscape in your market with these tools:
- Market Explorer: Discover market size and potential, any key players, and traffic generation strategies
- Traffic Analytics: Compare your site’s traffic metrics against your competitors so you can make plans and rebuild
Paid Advertising
Discover the keywords and copy that your competitors are using in their PPC advertising campaigns:
- Keyword Magic Tool: Generate thousands of new keywords from one seed keyword
- Advertising Research: Improve your advertising campaigns by getting a glimpse into your competitor’s
- Display Advertising: Analyze how other companies create successful display ads
- PLA Advertising: Analyze the performance of Google Shopping advertisers
Competitor PR Monitoring
Keep an eye on your competitor’s online mentions and social media presence:
- Brand Monitoring: Stay in-the-know of who’s mentioning you and what they’re saying. You can even keep tabs on your competitor’s mentions so you can target them for yourself and possibly find new channels for distributing your brand
- Post Tracking: Measure your content’s performance, or track your competitor’s content performance
- Social Media Tracker: Analyze your competitor’s social media, keep tabs on your audience’s preferences, and discover new ways to increase engagement
SEMrush Advertising Tools
Make sure your ads have the best chance at success by using these tools.
PPC Keyword Research
Create your ideal PPC advertising campaign with these tools:
- Keyword Magic Tool: Generate thousands of new keywords from one seed keyword
- Keyword Manager: Analyze metrics for up to 1,000 keywords to keep tabs on your goals
- Keyword Gap: Compare any website’s keywords profile against your own to find competitive gaps
- PPC Keyword Tool: Create the most successful PPC campaigns by building the perfect list of keywords
Website Monetization
Monetize your audience to the best of your ability with the help of these powerful tools:
- Display Advertising: Analyze how other companies create successful display ads
- On-Page SEO Checker: Generates a list of strategies you can use to improve each webpage’s SEO
- SEO Writing Assistant: Check your SEO and readability score to ensure that your content is on the right track
SEMrush Social Media Management Tools
Social media management is a necessary part of any business these days, so use these tools to make your social media strategy as easy and effective as it can possibly be.
- Social Media Poster: Schedule and manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google My Business posts from one place so you can save time and always have content prepared and ready to go
- Social Media Ads: Create, launch, and manage ads on Facebook ad platforms. See your low-performing ads so you can adjust and improve
Pros & Cons of SEMrush
Pros:
- SEMrush offers a huge range of tools to help you better understand, track, analyze, and optimize various aspects of your website
- If you’re interested in really boosting your reach, engagement, audience, and traffic, SEMrush’s tools are powerful and helpful ways to drive improvement
- Find any gaps in your knowledge or execution to improve your strategies and get an edge
- Get all the dirt on your competition so you can overtake them
- SEMrush offers a free plan and a free 7-day trial for paid plans
Cons:
- Some of the data, suggestions, and results that SEMrush provides is based on educated estimations as some of the SEO data they examine is based on speculated information
- SEMrush is not a particularly beginner-friendly tool, it’s helpful to have some experience in SEO, SERP, SEM, PPC campaigns, ad campaigns, etc. to use it
- To access all tools and have the full function of each tool, you’ll need to sign up for a paid pricing plan
SEMrush’s Pricing
SEMrush offers a free version of their services, plus a free 7-day trial for all plans. For access to all of their tools, sign up for one of their paid plans.
What the free SEMrush account includes:
- Daily competitor or keyword research with up to 10 new queries per day
- 10 daily searches in the Keyword Magic Tool and receive 10 rows of results for each search
- Ability to create and manage one Semrush Project
- Track 10 keywords with Position Tracking
- Audit 100 pages of your site with Site Audit
- 10 SEO Idea units per month
- 2 Topic Research queries
- Schedule 1 PDF report
For up-to-date information about SEMrush’s paid plans, check out their pricing page.
Is SEMrush Worth It?
In our opinion? Yes.
SEMrush is worth it because of the wide range of tools that they offer, the dirt you can dig up on your competitor’s strategies and tactics, and based on our own major increase in traffic we experienced after using their tools.
If you really want to grow your marketing and make big moves with your SEO, content, and advertising then it’s definitely worth using SEMrush.
Conclusion
While SEMrush is not a tool for the new entrepreneur, the services they offer are powerful, robust, comprehensive, and informative.
They have every tool a seasoned entrepreneur needs to dive deep into the guts of their business whether it’s their SEO strategy, backlinks, content performance, social media engagement, brand mentions, keywords, domain authority, advertising campaign optimization, and much, much more.
If your business is weak in any or a few of these areas, then SEMrush’s tools can help you get a detailed and raw look at where your problems may lie so you can adjust your course of action, improve your strategy, and make better decisions for the future of your business.
